Is Melon's model failing with asylum centers in Albania?

Worse, things could hardly have gone better for Italy's right-wing government. A week ago, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, at the EU summit, advertised her model of how an asylum processing center could be managed in a third country. But now the newly built center in Albania - not counting the Italian staff - has remained empty again, for the second time in a short time.

In October, Italy had to repatriate 16 asylum seekers transported to Albania, as some were minors, another was sick, and twelve others because, according to the law, their application had to be examined in Italy. A week ago (Friday November 8), the government made a second attempt by sending seven migrants from Egypt and Bangladesh to Albania. But, on Monday (November 11), a court in Rome ordered the return of these persons to Italy, referring to the fact that the clarification should ultimately go to the European Court. A border guard boat took the refugees back to Brindizi.

In case of overcrowding, the Italian government hopes to move up to 40 asylum seekers who attempt to enter Italy illegally to the Albanian asylum processing center. But, even a month after the occasional postponement, it remains unclear whether even a single decision on asylum in the shelter in Albania will ever be made.

"Now it would actually be the right step for the Meloni government to say, 'Okay, we tried, but it's not possible,'" says Hein, a political scientist who specializes in immigration and asylum policy at the University LUISS in Rome. This is because the European Court and some Italian courts, in the past weeks, have expressed reservations regarding the concept practiced by Italy regarding the definition of safe countries of origin, "especially Egypt and Bangladesh, but also Tunisia, which are the countries where they mainly come from asylum seekers in Italy", says Hein.

The model agreement with Albania is not the only restrictive measure through which the government of the far-right party, "Fratelli d'Italia", is trying to limit irregular migration. Since he has been in power, since October 2022, restrictive laws have been issued regarding rescue in marine emergencies. Ships must now complete their mission as soon as they take on board those in need. They are then directed to sail to remote ports in northern Italy, making rescue missions more costly and ineffective.

The UN Organization for Migration (IOM) admits that during this year there have been far fewer arrivals compared to the same period a year ago. However, the IOM spokeswoman explains: "If we refer to the arrivals of the last few months, which have had to do with bad weather, you can say that the agreement between Italy and Albania has not had any inhibitory effect so far. Only during the last eleven days, over 3300 arrivals of migrants by sea have been registered in Italy". The spokeswoman adds that Europe, referring to the number of irregular migrant arrivals, is currently far from the emergency situation of 2015.

Despite the problems, Italy's agreement with its neighbor across the Adriatic seems to have been welcomed by other European governments; Denmark, the Netherlands, but also opposition politicians in Germany prefer to consider the model for channeling migration to third countries. Italy is a precedent case within the EU and thus attracted a lot of attention, just like Great Britain before. London's deal with Rwanda ultimately collapsed in the summer after the Conservative government had invested around €830 million.

"The legal, logistical and financial difficulties - and this was also demonstrated by the Albanian model - are so great that in the end all this mobilization of resources and energy is not worth it", concludes Christopher Hein. We are dealing with "failed attempts to misdirect the migration and asylum situation, which neither serves the asylum seekers nor justifies the population's needs for more order".

Even for Italy, the model with Albania risks turning into a financial failure. The government calculates the management costs until 2029 at over 500 million euros. Meanwhile, State Control has been set in motion in Italy - the EU country with high debts.

Professor of Jurisprudence, Hein, notes that there is clearly a disproportion between the expenses and the number of asylum seekers in question: "This may even have criminal consequences". The State Control, according to Heini, also has the power to suspend further expenses as a result of the verification.

In the coming weeks, the decision of the Court of Cassation, from the highest instance in Italy, is expected - regarding the issue of whether Italy has violated European rules in declaring countries of origin as safe. A decision is also expected from the European Court in Luxembourg. It is possible that soon these instances will decide whether the Italian Government will be able to adhere to its model with Albania or not. /DW/